BillionGraves is all about making family history research accessible. The driving force behind it is the idea that a volunteer force records headstones around the world and compiles the transcribed data in one place on BillionGraves.com. The database is free to search on the web, and it is now free to search from your iPhone or Android phone as well!

Why you should visit your local cemetery

Think of the BillionGraves effort as a wall waiting to be painted. If the painter puts smatterings of paint haphazardly across the wall, he’ll probably miss spots and leave an uneven layer of color. Yes, the wall will be painted, and yes, he can fill in the gaps, but if he had been methodical about painting the wall, he would be certain he covered the entire wall, and his cleanup work later would be reduced. There are clear benefits of being methodical about the picture-taking process with BillionGraves, too. Since we have volunteers working around the world, we can all finish painting the wall in record time. If you paint in your corner of the world, and she paints in hers, and so on, we’ll be certain we are covering the world’s cemeteries and collecting all the data we can to help people research their families from the comfort of their homes.

We can reach our goal of collecting one billion graves with the efforts of our volunteers. We appreciate your efforts, and we encourage you to continue to gather records from your local cemeteries. While it is exciting and moving to visit cemeteries where your relatives are buried, it is also vital to capture the data waiting for you in your local cemetery. Think of my mom. She lives in Florida, but all of her relatives are buried in the West, either in Colorado, Utah, or Idaho. She is waiting for the research from all of those cemeteries to be collected so she has access to her relatives’ information. While she waits, she has the opportunity to visit her local cemeteries in Florida, record the headstones in those cemeteries, and supply the data other families are waiting for in Maine, Kansas, Venezuela, or any other place around the world.

Get the youth involved

Getting your children or grandchildren involved will also speed up the process. Kids have natural technological abilities that we adults didn’t grow up learning. They can be a force for good as you visit cemeteries in your area. Let them provide service for their community, and let them learn at a young age the respect and appreciation for those who have gone before them that you have.

We can’t say this enough—we appreciate every effort from every volunteer. Let’s keep telling our friends about BillionGraves, visiting our local cemeteries, and transcribing the wealth of data that is flooding into our database.

From your Android or iPhone app, you can now access the Mobile Records Search for free.

The Mobile Records Search feature enables you to search for headstones on the go. While you are at a cemetery taking photos, you can search for specific names to find ancestors. When you find a headstone you want to view, tap on it, and you can view both the image of the headstone and a map of its location in the cemetery.

We hope you enjoy this great feature. To unlock this feature, tap on Records on the BillionGraves Home screen on your app. If you are having any problems accessing the Mobile Records Search, check your dashboard in the app to be sure you are signed in, then return to the Records view to begin your search. If you have any questions, feel free to contact support.

Users who purchased the records search (for $2.99) before it became free have been given a notifications package as a replacement for their purchase (a $4.99 value).

What if one of the headstones you come across has important information on the back? Or what if it’s an obelisk and has information on all four sides of the memorial? Remember, you can link images of the same headstone together while you are taking pictures with the BillionGraves app. Tap the link icon in the corner of the camera view in between each shot of the headstone you want linked together. So if you take a picture of all four sides of an obelisk, you will tap the link icon three times—in between each picture you take. Then, when the images are transcribed, all four images will be available on one screen for the transcriber to see. That way all the information for one headstone can stay together.

BillionGraves Plus

By opening a Plus account, you can access all of the BillionGraves features.

30 Records Watches: A Record Watch means you’ve submitted a specific surname you’d like to monitor at BillionGraves. Whenever a headstone with your specified surname is transcribed, you are notified via email. With these notifications, you’ll always know the latest data on your family history.

Virtual Walkthrough: from any record view, you can click on the Nearby Records tab, where you will be able to see surrounding headstones in that cemetery. This is a great way to learn additional information about other people buried in that cemetery. We hope you make valuable research connections as you experience the whole cemetery where your ancestor is buried.

Mobile Records Search: You can search and view all BillionGraves records directly from your iPhone, iPad, or Android device in addition to searching on the web. This means that while you are in a cemetery, you’ll be able to lookup a name to help you find a specific headstone or specific surnames buried in that cemetery.

Favorites: This feature is coming soon, but we’re really excited to share it with you. You’ll be able to keep track of all your favorite BillionGraves records in one place. Once you mark a record as a favorite, you’ll never have to search for it again; it will be easily accessible from your Favorites page.

The BillionGraves Plus account is only $9.99 per year. And if 30 Record Watches isn’t enough, you can purchase Notification Packages, which include 10 additional Record Watches. You can purchase a Notification Package even if you don’t have the Plus account. For more information on signing up for a BillionGraves Plus account, visit BillionGraves.com.

Earn New Features for Free

Because we love our volunteers, we have started a program to reward you for your hard work: you can earn features just by uploading new images! When you upload just 500 images, you will receive 1 Records Watch (you can be emailed notifications when a certain surname has been added to the BillionGraves database). At 1000 images, you’ll receive an additional Records Watch. Then, you’ll continue to earn features for every 1000 images you upload. Visit the Upgrade page for more details. We know you’ll enjoy making a habit out of recording headstones, and we want to reward you for your efforts.

Of course, all of these features only serve to enhance your experience on BillionGraves. Our database of records will always be free. You do not need a BillionGraves Plus account in order to continue using BillionGraves.

We hope you are as excited about these new features as we are. Thanks again to all of our volunteers—image uploaders and transcribers alike—we couldn’t do it without you! Start uploading more pictures so you can earn your first Records Watch!